Health Care Language Revisited

In one of my previous posts I discussed the language barrier that doctors face within the United States due to the large diversity in language. In class and in my post we talked about the security that patients feel when they discuss their health problems in their own language. In the field of health it is crucial for the patient to be able to expound upon their symptoms and be sure that the doctor understands them in order for a correct diagnosis to be made. In the United States where doctors are expected to speak English, the language barrier usually shows up when a non-English speaking patients arrives. However, in Britain the latest problem is when the doctor doesn't speak English.

This doctor-patient language barrier, obviously, would be more common in Europe where each country is much closer together and speaks a different language. Interestingly, however, the EU does not seem to mandate that doctors working in a different country be fluent in that countries language. According to this article in the Telegraph, though their are language proficiency tests in place, there are ways for doctors to bypass them if they don't pass. Most recently Britain has been pushing for the EU to change their policies. This contention was catalyzed by the death of a patient, David Gray in Britain at the hands of a German doctor. Gray died due to an overdose of painkillers, which were administered due to a miscommunication that was blamed on the language difference. Later reports revealed that the doctor had failed an English proficiency test but was still allowed to practice in Britain. This was his very first shift there.

This is a very really and scary example of the difficulties that the language barrier presents in the medical field. Even today, Britain is unable to conduct proficiency exams on doctors from the EU, although they are able to test any other foreign doctor that wanted to practice in the country. This discrepancy ended up costing many lives along with Mr. Gray's. The Health Secretary has promised to pass new laws mandating proficiency tests if the EU does not reform this policy. I think that Britain should be well within their rights to ensure the quality of patient care by conducting proficiency tests. It has been more than a year since Mr. Gray's death and the matter has not been resolved. When lives are on the line the government and EU should find a quick way to resolve the matter instead of stalling.